As I understand it, it is the specific mission of Quakerism to propagate a Christianity of this prophetic, apostolic type, a Christianity in which the Church is a living fellowship of disciples at work for the social and moral ends of the Kingdom of God. But the Church is not simply, in the Quaker conception, a fellowship of disciples at work for the Kingdom of God; it is such a fellowship _plus_ Jesus Christ Himself, in whose Spirit, the Spirit which unites them one to another and to Him, they become together “one flock, one Shepherd.”
Fellowships, made up of groups of men and women who are with Christ, redeemed by Him, learning from Him, following Him, helping in His work, looking out on life with something of His devotion to the will of God and His passion to seek and save the lost—such are the true Quaker Churches. It is worth while to analyze the conception a little. The Church, we say, is a living fellowship—not in the first place an organization, but in the first place an organism—not an institution, but a body, built up of many cells, many individuals, just as the body has cells that grow and change and perform their several functions under the direction of an all-pervading, all-embracing life. That is what a living fellowship means. This life received through direct contact with the Divine life is the one essential of the Christian Church. It is the business of the Church to see that it is fostered in every possible way, so that the body may freely grow under its influence and freely express the life in all forms of worthy living.
Historically, Quakerism is the product of this vital experience and while we gladly recognize that the experience is shared by us with many other branches of the Christian Church, it remains true that no other religious community so deliberately and emphatically bases its individual and corporate life upon this supreme fact of the soul’s immediate contact with God.
Our special position among the churches is sometimes stated—not by the Five Years’ Meeting—in a series of desolating negatives. We do not practice water baptism, nor partake of the outward elements of the Lord’s Supper, we are against war and oaths and priestcraft, our meetings are held on a basis of silence, and so on—all negatives. But we were gathered as a people out of the world through the force of dynamic positives. We withstand priestcraft because every disciple is ordained for service. As George Fox said, every man hath an office and is serviceable. We witness against oaths, because we uphold a single standard of truth speaking, and against distinctions of dress and address, because all men are equal in the sight of God; we oppose war because the armor of the children of light is the armor of righteousness, and disuse the outward form of baptism because the all-important thing is not the form but the inward repentance and cleansing by the blood of Christ. We cannot narrow down the experience of communion with our Lord to special ceremonials and places and ministrants, when we hold that Jesus offers Himself as the Bread of Life to His people day by day—in the home, in the factory, at business, in all our common work and in all our loftiest worship—the whole of life may be a sacrament of communion with Jesus Christ.